The present disclosure relates to a buffering member interposed between an outer corner of a packaged article and an inner corner of a packaging box.
When a packaged article, for example, an image forming apparatus such as a printer and a copying machine, is packaged into a packaging box, buffering members are interposed between outer corners of the packaged article and inner corners of the packaging box. Such a buffering member has an L-shaped plan view so as to meet the outer corner of the packaged article. If such an L-shaped buffering member is formed by a single product, a volume of the buffering member may increase. Thereby, such an L-shaped buffering member is generally formed by a pair of blocks which are combined into an L-shape.
In a buffering member 101 shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, a pair of blocks 112 is sometimes bonded on a base sheet 111 which is foldable along a folding line 115 formed along an inner corner of a packaging box 3. In this case, the pair of blocks 112 includes a rectangular parallelepiped long block 117 and a rectangular parallelepiped short block 118. The long block 117 is bonded on the base sheet 111 on one side of the folding line 115 along the folding line 115 with a posture in which its length direction is perpendicular to the folding line 115. The short block 118 is bonded on the base sheet 111 on the other side of the folding line 115 at a position separate from the folding line 115 with a posture in which its length direction is perpendicular to the folding line 115. When the base sheet 111 is folded along the folding line 115 at right angles, the long block 117 and the short block 118 are combined via a combined face S into an L-shaped plan view forming a right angle.
If an packaged article 2 has a large size, a plurality of pairs of blocks 112 are provided at predetermined intervals along the folding line 115. When a plurality of pairs of blocks 112 are provided, the long blocks 117 are bonded on one face 111a of the base sheet 111 on one side of the folding line 115 and the short blocks 118 are bonded on the other face 111b of the base sheet 111 on the other side of the folding line 115 in many cases. That is, the combined faces S of the pairs of blocks 112 are provided on a side of the other face 111b of the base sheet 111.
If the packaging box 3 in which the packaged article 2 is packaged via the above buffering member 101 is fallen with its outer corner downward, impact is applied on bonded faces between each of the blocks 117 and 118 and the base sheet 111 (the bonded faces are shown by hatching in FIG. 5B). Because the bonded face between the short block 118 and the base sheet 111 is separated from the folding line 115 and the both blocks 117 and 118 are not bonded at the combined face S, when the impact is applied on the bonded faces, the long block 117 and the short block 118 are relatively slid along the combined face S, as shown in FIG. 5B. As a result, a crease P may be generated on the base sheet 111 at the bonded face between the short block 118 and the base sheet 111. If all of the combined faces S are provided on the side of the other face 111b of the base sheet 111, the creases P are connected into a linier crease P. Then, a relative position of the long block 117 and the short block 118 may be displaced, and thus a position where the outer corner of the packaged article 2 meets is changed and an assumed buffering performance cannot be obtained.
In order to prevent such a positional displacement of the pair of blocks 112, one end face 117a of the long block 117 may be bonded on the other face 111b of the base sheet 111 such that the both blocks 117 and 118 are bonded on the base sheet 111 at all of contact faces between the both blocks 117 and 118 and the base sheet 111. However, in such a case, the base sheet 111 is kept in a folded posture along the folding line 115 (a posture shown in FIG. 5A) and a volume of the buffering member may increase, resulting in increase in transporting cost.